I am thinking of repainting my living room. Really. It’s currently yellow, and fairly traditional, but I feel it’s a bit too safe, and I would like more colour and fun. It’s also the largest room in the house, so it’s going to take a lot more paint, than say a bathroom or even the guest room. I wanted to be certain of my colour choice before I moved forward. So I took a cue from the Architecture World, and made a sample.

In construction, if a detail is complex, or the owner isn’t completely sold on the idea, the Architect can order what is called a mock-up. A mock-up is a full-scale, partial piece of whatever they want. It’s most often a window or part of a wall texture, in my case, it was paint.

Remember, my walls are yellow, school bus yellow, really, and any typical paint swatch isn’t even going to show up against it. I needed bigger, and better. So I tore apart the box that our sheet metal came in, and painted on white trim at the top, and grey wall below. I then tacked the ginormo swatches to the wall, right next to the furniture that I wouldn’t be painting. I have left it up since. Husband has seen it, and I am living with it.

I’ve learned something. The grey I used to paint the bathroom is a bit too dark for my living room. At the same time, grey looks nice with the stained wood, and so does the white trim. I was worried about these areas. In the end, I really glad I did the mock-up. I showed me what I needed to know, and it convinced Husband that it would be a nice change to repaint the living room. Just wait till I show you what major change I used a mock-up to convince him of next!